Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2008-112737 describes a multidirectional switch device including a button that is operable in four directions.
FIG. 5 illustrates the structure of a conventional multidirectional switch device 51. The switch device 51 includes a button 52 and a holder 53 that supports the button 52 to be operable in multiple directions. The button 52 includes axial holes 54. The holder 53 includes axial projections 55, which are fitted into the axial holes 54. The axial holes 54 and the axial projections 55 define a pivot axis. The button 52 is supported by the holder 53 and pivotal about the pivot axis. The switch device 51 further includes a board 56 that has fixed contacts (not illustrated), a rubber component 57 that has movable contacts (not illustrated) opposed to the fixed contacts, and pushers 58 that push the rubber component 57 when the button 52 is operated. The switch device 51 includes a body 59 that supports the holder 53 together with the board 56, the rubber component 57, and the pushers 58. When the button 52 is operated, each pusher 58 pushes a portion of the rubber component 57. One of the movable contacts of the rubber component 57 is shifted from an initial position to contact one of the fixed contacts of the board 56. This activates the switch device 51 and executes control corresponding to the operated position of the button 52, for example, control of a vehicle accessory (in one example, music selection of audio device).
In the multidirectional switch device 51 including the button 52 that is operable in four directions, the button 52 includes an operation surface provided with four operation positions located at ninety-degree intervals, and four pushers 58 (two of which are illustrated in FIG. 5) are arranged in correspondence with the four operation positions. The pivot axis, which is defined by the axial holes 54 and the axial projections 55 as described above, allows for operations of the button 52 in four directions.
As illustrated in FIG. 6, the button 52 may be formed using a mold. In this case, to allow the mold to slide, the axial holes 54 need to be located below a lower end of an overhang portion of the button 52. Therefore, the structure for sliding the mold imposes limitations on the position where the axial holes 54 are formed. It is thus difficult to reduce the thickness of the button 52 and, ultimately, the thickness of the multidirectional switch device 51.